


Thanks for listening

by heavensweetheart



Series: Feeling inspired [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Romance, Canon Compliant, Consent is Sexy, Ember Island (Avatar), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s03e17 The Ember Island Players, F/M, Feelings, Hidden scene, Hurt/Comfort, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28586157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavensweetheart/pseuds/heavensweetheart
Summary: After Aang forces a kiss on her during the play, Katara is upset, but Zuko is there to listen.
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Feeling inspired [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2094594
Comments: 5
Kudos: 46





	Thanks for listening

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this post: https://perfectlypanda.tumblr.com/post/639264457235791872/ember-island-players-but-the-version-where-the

**Katara**

The play already resumed and Aang still hasn’t come back from the balcony. Part of me _is_ worried about him, but the other part is still…

I can’t even oblige myself to concentrate on the stage, I’m too busy trying to make sense of all these thoughts going through my head and this knot tying and twisting my stomach. I can recognize it as resentment, and it tightens itself whenever I acknowledge I don’t _want_ to feel it. I don’t like feeling resentment against my friends, but I…

“Hey.”

I turn to Zuko’s voice.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” I say, brushing my hair behind my ear, “Why do you ask?”

“You looked upset since a while ago.”

Oh.

I brush my hair to return to cover my face. “It’s nothing.”

“Is there something you want to talk about?”

My eyes swap between his face and the stage while my lips furrow pensively. I could ask if that wouldn’t interrupt his enjoyment of the play, but I know for a fact he’s not a fan of this cast. (Not that I blame him. Acclaimed actors, where?)

“Have you ever had someone you really care about pushing you to do something you’re not sure if you want to do?” I wonder.

It is only when the question leaves my lips and I look at his eyes highlighted by the theater’s golden lamps that I realize _what_ question I just asked and to _whom_.

Oh, Spirits!

I’m about to apologize right when he answers without even reproaching me.

“All the time,” he says simply, like it was the most normal thing in the world. “Why?”

I decide to keep going with the conversation: “Why did you do then?”

“At first, not much,” he admits with raw sincerity, “I went along with what they wanted me to do... until I figured out it wasn’t what I wanted.”

The silence that comes after is not absolute due to the noises from the play and the voices of the actors. His eyes return to the stage, and I only stare at his profile. I’m sitting to his right, therefore I can only get to see his unscarred side, but somehow that makes me picture even worse things that could have happened to him when he first deserted the Fire Nation. They could have burned his entire face as a punishment, they could have seen it as some twisted way to erase his humanity.

It makes me want to ask if it is difficult for him to be here, too. Still in the Fire Nation with their fancy theaters. The place from where he was kicked out like he wasn’t good enough.

My eyes drift back to the stage, too; my voice becomes quiet, frail: “Do you still care about the people that pushed you like that?”

It takes him a few moments to answer. (If anyone saw us, they wouldn’t tell we are talking to each other at all. It’s something only for the two of us, something only we can understand.)

“Yes,” he whispers. “I guess I do. Somehow.”

I don’t answer.

“But nobody has the right to force you to do something you don’t want, and the people that really care about you listen to you, even if they don’t agree with what you think,” he continues. “They put your feelings first because that is what you do for the people you love. I know that now.”

I’m still staring into nowhere in direction of the stage, but I can feel the brief glance that he gives to the side of my face. (Even Zuko’s eyes burn.)

“Nobody has the right to ignore how you feel, Katara.”

 _You make it sound easy_ , I say inside my head.

My hand glides slowly through the seat until it reaches his.

It is only for putting them together, have some sort of physical reassurance that this isn’t a distant conversation, that Zuko is right next to me, supporting me. Listening to me.

It is not a hand-holding, but it feels warm and steady like one.

“Thanks for listening, Zuko.”

“No need to thank me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!! And if you'd like to know ways to help me keep writing, please, please, **PLEASE** see the pinned post on my Tumblr page: https://heavensweetheart.tumblr.com


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